Climbing Yangmingshan in the rain
The day has finally come, the day where I get to wear my $2 convenience store raincoat. A great day indeed.
I woke up and excitedly ran outside to see if it was raining, it was! But a bit of rain at street level is not going to test my coat, I need sideways freezing rain for that.
So I sprinted to the train, then bounded through puddles onto the bus, headed to Yangmingshan national park, a place I have been before, a place with volcanoes above the clouds, a place where $2 raincoats get to prove their merit.
The bus driver presented challenges, by yelling at me for no good reason. His bus said pay on boarding, so I go to pay, get yelled at, sit down, get yelled at some more. He was yelling at me for trying to pay whilst boarding, and then someone else boarded and the situation was repeated.
This is the man I am trusting to drive me up a mountain pass through volcanic gas.
Once off the bus, it was cold, and a bit rainy, but still, not coat worthy, I bounded up the path, heading deep into the cloud, and once I broke out of the trees it was finally time to take my coat out of its wrapper and celebrate my new found wind and water proofness.
The path itself was slippery, the summit was devoid of other humans, just me and my splendid coat and no one else to appreciate it, and then on the way down it was so slippery from a mixture of rain, moss and volcanic sulphur, that I slipped twice. But I am very happy to report the coat is fine!
Eventually I was back at a road, and I safely removed, folded and stored my coat, ready to be used on another day.
Near the bus stop is this building under construction. Chinese people appreciate the spectacle of a giant windowless orb wedged into the side of a building.
There is my mountain, the main peak is in the middle of the two peaks, on a clear day it forms the character of mountain.
The rivers run red with lava. Actually there is a lava panic on currently, as someone has declared that Taipei is sitting on a giant bubble of lava and it could consume the city anytime now. A bit like the whole yellowstone conspiracy that comes back every couple of years.
Before the final ascent, you can appreciate the fine museum, all to yourself. Or perhaps its the Taiwanese parliament, I cant be sure.
The path up is steps, all the way, no let up!
Such a great view of cloud, I was starting to get damp at this point.
My final goal is around to the left in the cloud, really getting wet now.
And so it was finally time to put on my coat! Feel the awesome.
Behold, the summit. I stood in the wind and rain enjoying my relative dryness.
Challenge accepted. Pose in the rain with my coat on. My camera got wet, all photos have water marks on them now. Actual marks made by water.
I had the whole summit to myself, no one was around to appreciate my coat.
The path down the other way was a sea of bamboo.
Kind of below the cloud, a bit of a view opened up.
It was sometimes hard to tell what was cloud and what was deadly volcanic gas. I breathed in both.
Nearly down now, probably the best photo from today, other than those of me with my coat on.
Bonus volcano. I stood in this exact spot a few years ago.
A bit more gas and I am done.
To celebrate, me and my coat returned to the hotel via a grandma on the corner selling pies and pasties. The pie is 'meat' the pasty is leek and tofu. Both were delciously oily.
Eating ramen in Ximending
This is my 4th time in Taipei. I think its awesome. However tomorrow I am going to Hualien, on the east coast, a place I have never been to before.
Actually for the next week I will be on the remote Eastern coast staying in cities smaller than anywhere I have stayed whilst on holidays before, locations with a large Taiwanese Aboriginal population. So I imagine it would be quite different to Taipei but also I imagine it might be exactly the same, I have no idea.
Before that, I had to celebrate the fact it isnt raining by going for a huge walk, 35,000 steps today in case you are as boring a person as me and wear a watch specifically to see how many steps you take and how fast your heart is beating.
I dont really know where my walk went, I just followed the bright lights, and there were many bright lights, and even more scooters.
Along the way I noticed a lot of shop cats, I think Hong Kong has some too, but they are much more common in Taiwan. Even flash western clothes stores have a shop cat, as you will see below.
I then went back via the main station to buy my ticket for tomorrow, and proudly strolled up to the window and explained what I wanted in Chinese, I even understood what she said back to me. But then she said, in perfect English, and I quote 'Hope you enjoyed practicing your Chinese with me, needs more practice!'
Oh, and before I forget, this hotel room is excellent, but full of ants! On day one it was just a couple, but now theres lots. They seem interested in the kettle but it looks clean inside and out to me. It reminds me of my old house in Adelaide which had so many ants tunneling up through the foundations that I dont know how the entire house didnt sink into the ground.
If you dont get enough land for a big temple, just go vertical.
Random street crossing, turned out well for hand held moving photography in the dark.
Antiporno, coming soon! I am guessing its Japanese due to the sailor moon girl who has been disembowled and has teddy bears and kittens coming out of her.
Virtual Reality is big in Taiwan. I have seen several places. They look a bit more industrial and violent compared to the one in QV basement in Melbourne.
However you can watch a video of the game you can play, which seemed to be shooting basketballs from a moving car into a basket on a moving truck whilst half naked girls jump off motorbikes to try and block your shot.
More random steet corner.
Blow torch beef is back! Its small cubes now in a box, not as good as the time I saw a whole steak get blow torched and shoved in a paper bag.
These girls are protesting something with song. Their signs depict diamonds, hand bags, lipstick, and the King of Thailand? I cant read the traditional Chinese writing.
Falun Gong posters are very artistic in Taiwan, which is a very lucrative Falun Gong territory.
This temple has LED scrolling screens, as many do, an ATM, as many do, and a new addition, god like warriors that shoot lasers from their eyes.
Shop cat, in the Adidas store.
My dinner was ramen, the thing on the right is an egg. It was good, 'black' ramen whatever that is, noodles were very good texture but the whole thing needed more chashu, and black fungus would work in black ramen.
The large and impressive looking Taipei main station.
Underneath the station I found another huge mall thing. This one is a bit upmarket, so has no people.